BBC2 is majoring on factual programming in its winter 2004 schedule, including a Peter Taylor investigation on the battle against al-Qaida and a documentary drama recreating the personal experiences of those caught up in the second world war Dunkirk evacuation.

The channel's line-up for the first three months of next year also includes documentaries about the Broadwater Farm riot of 1985 that led to the murder of PC Keith Blakelock, the miners' strike, and two new current affairs series, If and This World.

Taylor, the award-winning journalist behind a series of documentaries on Northern Ireland, the Iranian embassy siege and most recently the activities of the British secret services in the 70s and 80s, has made Third World War, a documentary about the secret war waged against al-Qaida since September 11 2001.

Third World War will feature Taylor's trademark access to many of the key players in the struggle between western intelligence agencies and al-Qaida, including interviews with the Bali bombers from their prison cells.

The BBC2 controller, Jane Root, has invested £2.5m in Dunkirk, a three-part documentary with dramatised elements that tells the story of how a large part of the British army was evacuated from the French coast in May 1940 and saved from capture by the Germans.

The executive producer of Dunkirk, Alex Holmes - who made his name on Donal MacIntyre Undercover - said 18 months of research had gone into the project, tracking down people who had been there and relatives of protagonists who are no longer alive.

He added that even the dramatised parts of the series will stick as closely as possible to the experiences of people who were there.

The story encompasses real life characters from the armed forces and the flotilla of small civilian ships that answered the call to help them out.

Dunkirk will also feature what was going in the cabinet, with Simon Russell Beale playing prime minister Winston Churchill.

The programme focuses on 12 main characters, but there are 80 speaking parts in total.

"I've never been tested in the way the characters we're presenting in Dunkirk were. I'd like to know how I would've reacted," Mr Holmes said. "I think part of the fascination people still have for the second world war is that it was all about ordinary people, people who in another era would not have been extraordinary."

Ms Root said the BBC had been in close contact with the police while developing its documentary about the Broadwater Farm riots, and had not been taken by surprise by yesterday's announcement of a new investigation into murder of PC Blakelock.

"We've been working incredibly closely with the police. We knew this was a live investigation," she added.

Broadwater Farm, which is the show's working title, is being made by independent producer Roger Graef, who has a long track record of making law and order documentaries.

The show's BBC executive producer, Fiona Murch, said one of the reasons for returning to this subject now was that Winston Silcott, the man whose conviction for PC Blakelock's murder was overturned in 1991, had now been released from jail after completing a sentence relating to another case.

Ms Murch added that PC Blakelock's family did not want to take part in the documentary.

"This is not so much the story of the victim, it's the story of the estate and a key moment in relations between the police and black community," she said.

The Miners' Strike will follow five young men from a Yorkshire mining village who became flying pickets, and hear their recollections of the period in 1984-85 when they became involved in regular confrontations with the police.

New current affairs series If will look at the big issues of the future that are not even on politicians' radars today, including ageing, obesity, inequality and energy.

"Most governments are not prepared to do tough things now to sort out these big problems. Obesity is one of the things we are just starting to see people say: 'God, if we carry on like this, we've got a big problem"," Ms Root said.

BBC2 international current affairs series Correspondent is being relaunched as This World, which will focus on strong stories, including exclusive investigations into contentious global issues.